USPTO Patents Application 10597671

PATENT COOPERATION TREATY

From the

INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING AUTHORITY

To:

see form PCT/1SA/220

PCT

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING AUTHORITY

(PCT Rule 436/S.1)

Applicant's or agent's file reference

see form PC171SA>220

Date of mailing

(day/month/year) see form PCH7ISA£10 (second sheet)

FOR FURTHER ACTION

See paragraph 2 below

international application No.
PCT/lL2005y000137

International filing date (dayAnonthfyear)
04.02.2005

Priority date (day/month/year)

International Patent Classification (JPC) or both national classification and IPC
A61 H1/02, A61H3AX), A63B23/035

Applicant

REABILITY INC.

Box

No.

I

□

Box

No.

II

Box

No.

III

□

Box

No.

tv

Box

No.

V

□

Box

No.

VI

□

Box

No.

VII

□

Box

No.

VIII

1 . This opinion contains indications relating to the following items:

Basis of the opinion
Priority

Non-establishment of opinion with regard to novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability
Lack of unity of invention

Reasoned statement under Rule 435/S.1 (a)(i) with regard to novetty, inventive step or industrial
applicability; citations and explanations supporting such statement

Certain documents cited

Certain defects in the international application

Certain observations on the international application

FURTHER ACTION

If a demand for international preliminary examination is made, this opinion will usually be considered to be a
written opinion of the International Preliminary Examining Authority ("IPEA"). However, this does not apply where
the applicant chooses an Authority other than this one to be the IPEA and the chosen IPEA has notifed the
International Bureau under Rule 66.1b/s(b) that written opinions of this International Searching Authority
will not be so considered.

if this opinion is, as provided above, considered to be a written opinion of the IPEA, the applicant is invited to
submit to the IPEA a written reply together, where appropriate, with amendments, before the expiration of three
months from the date of mailing of Form PCT/lSA/220 or before the expiration of 22 months from the priority date,
whichever expires later.

For further options, see Form PCT/lSA/220.

For further details, see notes to Form PCT/iSA£20.

Name and mailing address of the ISA:

European Patent Office
D-80298 Munich

Tel. +49 89 2399 - 0 Tx: 523656 epmu d
Fax: +49 89 2399-4465

Authorized Officer

Elmar Fischer

Telephone No. +49 89 2399-7290

(j)

Form (PCT/ISA/237) (Cover Sheet) {January 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING AUTHORITY

International application No.
PCT/IL2005/000137

Box No. I Basis of the opinion

1 . With regard to the language, this opinion has been established on the basis of the international application in
the language in which it was filed, unless otherwise indicated under this item.

□ This opinion has been established on the basis of a translation from the original language into the following
language s which is the language of a translation furnished for the purposes of international search
(under Rules 12.3 and 23.1(b)),

2. With regard to any nucleotide andfor amino acid sequence disclosed in the international application and
necessary to the claimed invention, this opinion has been established on the basis of:

a. type of material:

□ a sequence listing

□ table(s) related to the sequence listing

b. format of material:

□ in written format

□ in computer readable form

c. time of filing/furnishing:

□ contained in the international application as filed.

□ filed together with the international application in computer readable form.

□ furnished subsequently to this Authority for the purposes of search,

3. □ !n addition, in the case that more than one version or copy of a sequence listing and/br table relating thereto

has been filed or furnished, the required statements that the information in the subsequent or additional
copies is identical to that in the application as filed or does not go beyond the application as filed, as
appropriate, were furnished.

4. Additional comments:

Form PCT/ISA/ 237 (January 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING AUTHORITY

International application No.
PCT/1L2005/000137

Box No, III Non-establishment of opinion with regard to novelty, inventive step and industrial
applicability

l he questions whether the ciaimed invention appears to be novel, to involve an inventive si«p (to be nun
obvious), or to be industrially applicable have not been examined in respect of:

□ the entire international application,
El claims Nos. 41-52

because:

□ the said international application, or the said claims Nos. relate to the following subject matter which
does not require an international preliminary examination (specify):

□ the description, claims or drawings (indicate particular elements beiow) or said claims Nos. are so
unclear that no meaningful opinion could be formed (specify):

□ the claims, or said claims Nos. are so inadequately supported by the description that no meaningful opinion
could be formed.

El no international search report has been established for the whole application or for said claims Nos. 41 -52

□ the nucleotide and/tor amino acid sequence listing does not comply with the standard provided for in Annex
C of the Administrative Instructions in that:

the written form □ has not been furnished

□ does not comply with the standard
the computer readable form □ has not been furnished

□ does not comply with the standard

□ the tables related to the nucleotide and/br amino acid sequence listing, if in computer readable form only, do
not comply with the technical requirements provided for in Annex C-bis of the Administrative Instructions.

□ See separate sheet for further details

Form PCTjISA/237 (January 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING AUTHORITY

International application No.
PCT/IL2005A)00137

Box No. V Reasoned statement under Rule 43b/s.1(a)(i) with regard to novelty, Inventive step or
industrial applicability; citations and explanations supporting such statement

1. Statement

Novelty (N) Yes: Claims 23, 35

No: Claims 1-22,24-34,36-40

Inventive step (IS) Yes: Claims

No: Claims 1-40

Industrial applicability (IA) Yes: Claims 1-40

No: Claims

2. Citations and explanations
see separate sheet

Form PCT/1SA/237 (January 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING
AUTHORITY (SEPARATE SHEET)

International application No.
PCT/IL2005/000137

Re item III

Non-estabiishmeni of opinion with regard to novelty, inventive step and Industrial
applicability

Claims 41 -52 relate to subject-matter considered by this Authority to be covered by
the provisions of Rule 67.1 (iv) PCT, namely to methods for treatment of the human or
animal body by therapy. Consequently, no opinion will be formulated with respect to
novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability of the subject-matter of these claims
(Article 34(4)(a)(i), Rule 43bis.1 (b) PCT).

In particular, independent method claim 41 includes medical treatment steps like
coupling a patient to a rehabilitation system and performing a rehabilitation activity,
the purpose and inevitable effect being therapeutic, namely rehabilitation of lost limb
control.

Re Ite m V

Reasoned statement with regard to novelty, inventive step or industrial applicability;
citations and explanations supporting such statement

I. Documents

Reference is made to the following documents:
Di: JP 02 102652 A;

D1': PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 014, no. 306 (C-0735), 3 July 1990

(English abstract of D1);
D2: US-A-5 397 865;
D3: US-A-5 846 086;
D4: EP-A-0 304 538;
D5: JP 2002 127058 A;

D5': PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 2002, no. 09, 4 September 2002
(English abstract of D5)

H = Requirements of Article 6 PCT - Clarity

1 . The feature in independent claim 1 that the "controller is configured to correlate an
audio output of said generator and said supported motion" relates to an intended use

Form PCT/ISA/237 (Separate Sheet) (Sheet 1) (EPOJanuary 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE International application No

INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING

AUTHORITY (SEPARATE SHEET) PCT/1L2005/0001 37

of the apparatus without it being clear which structural features of the apparatus
should thereby be defined or implied. Especially, it is not clear to which structural
elements of the rehabilitation apparatus other than the audio output of the generator
the controller is connected, and which are the input signals to the controller. The
same applies to independent claim 37.

In addition, it is clear from the description that means for tracking the motion of a user
are essential to the definition of the invention and necessary to solve the problem
posed, namely to provide a device correlating motion and rhythmic audio or music.
Since independent claim 1 does not contain this feature (see dependent claim 28) it
does not meet the requirement following from Article 6 PCT taken in combination with
Rule 6.3(b) PCT that any independent claim must contain all the technical features
essential to the definition of the invention.

2. Since the term "rehabilitation information" is totally vague and has no generally
acknowledged meaning in the present field, it is not clear what is meant in
independent claim 37 by the definition that the "controller is adapted to correlate said
audio and said movement responsive to said rehabilitation information".

The same applies to claims 13-1 7, 33: There is no pattern of movement that is
generally acknowledged as being "correct", so much the more, as claim 1 is not
restricted to any body part or type of movement.

3. According to the description, page 1 1 , lines 1 , 2 the rehabilitation apparatus is
suitable for a user that is unable to control the limb, which means that in this case the
movement is not only supported by the apparatus but entirely provided without
participation of the user. Thus, the term "motion support element" used in claim 1 is
not clear.

4. Several examples mentioned in the description do not necessarily comprise an audio
generator or do not correlate audio and movement, and thus are not covered by
independent claims 1 , 37: See e.g. page 1 0, lines 15, 16; page 1 8, lines 1 0-1 2; page
24, lines 1-10 (correlation between movement and "points" instead of audio).

Form PCT/ISA/237 (Separate Sheet) (Sheet 2) (EPO-January 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE International application No.

INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING

AUTHORITY (SEPARATE SHEET) PCT/1L2005/000137

5. A plurality of dependent claims is totally vague and thus leaves the reader in doubt
which additional structural features (cf. first sentence of Rule 6.4(a) PCT) are
intended to be claimed. Further, numerous claims attempt to define the invention in
terms of a result to be achieved, rather than defining the structural technical features
that are necessary to achieve the stated result (Article 6 PCT; PCT International
Search and Preliminary Examination Guidelines 5.35). See e.g. claims 16, 21-26, 29-
32, 36.

ill. Requirements of Article 33(2), (3) PCT - Novelty / Inventive step

1 . Document D1 discloses (see especially the single Fig. and abstract D1 ') (the
references in parentheses applying to this document):

A rehabilitation apparatus comprising at least one motion support element ((2) being
e.g. a computer mouse) adapted to support a motion of a part of a human; a
generator of rhythmic audio (34); and a controller configured to correlate an audio
output of said generator and said supported motion (D1 ', last two sentences).

Since the subject-matter of independent claim 1 does not differ therefrom, it is not
novel (Article 33(2) PCT).

2. All additional and/or differing features of independent claims 37 compared to claim 1
likewise being known from D1 , the subject-matter of this claim also lacks novelty over
D1 (Article 33(2) PCT):

-) Rehabilitation information: See D1' "data of the real circle, which is stored
in a memory 33".

-) Sensor: See D1' "a position signal is sent from a position signal generator
2".

3. The subject-matter of independent claims 1 , 37 likewise is not new over the
disclosure of each of the documents D2-D4 (see especially the relevant passages
indicated in the Search Report).

4. Dependent claims 2-36, 38-40 do not contain any additional features which, in
combination with the features of any claim to which they refer, meet the requirements

Form PCT/ISA/237 (Separate Sheet) (Sheet 3) (EPO-January 2004)

WRITTEN OPINION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING
AUTHORITY (SEPARATE SHEET)

International application No.
PCT/IL2005/0001 37

of the PCT in respect of novelty and/or inventive step, since all additional features are
eiTner expiiciiiy aiscioseu in cu it?cit>L unt? u. me uuuuinciuo ^ \ ui juoi icia^ lu
normal design procedures in this field:

Claims 2-4, 13-20, 22-35, 38-40: See the already mentioned passages in D1-D4.

Claims 5, 6, 10-12: See e.g. D2, column 10, lines 44-56 and column 12, lines 24-28,

Claims 7-9: See especially D2, column 4, line 60 - column 5, line 4.

Claim 21 : See e.g. D2, column 4, lines 20-26.

Claim 36: See e.g. D4, Fig, 7, "physical condition detector 1 ' (228).

Form PCT/ISA/237 (Separate Sheet) (Sheet 4) (EPO-January 2004)